Guv acting like a child: Basu

India

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Published: Friday, May 9, 2008, 17:08 [IST]

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Kolkata, May 9 (UNI) Flaying West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi for his self-imposed blackout at the Raj Bhavan, veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu today said the state's first citizen was acting like a child.

''What he is doing is childish. He could have called the Power Minister to know the power situation in the state. But what he is doing amounts to opposing the state government,'' he told reporters after coming out of the CPI(M) state Secretariat meeting here.

Mr Basu said instead of going for a voluntary blackout in his residence, the Governor should have asked for information on what led to the situation, particularly the power position at the Bakreswar thermal power unit.

His comments came two days after the Governor started a self-imposed power cut in his residence as a mark of solidarity with the common people, being afflicted by load shedding.

Mr Gandhi's dramatic move, coinciding with the Opposition's campaign before the coming Panchayat elections, already drew flak from the CPI(M) leaders, who took it as an indirect dig at the administration.

The Governor had announced that he would have two-hours of blackout everyday at the Raj Bhavan, perennially exempted from any power cut.

However, not taking it kindly, the embarrassed CPI(M) leadership went for an offensive questioning the motive of Mr Gandhi.

'' I am saying it openly that if the Governor at all intends to do something good for the state, he should call the Minister (Power), and give him good advice,'' Mr Basu said.

The clobbering that came from the CPI(M) patriarch followed a series of innuendos and sarcastic remarks from CPI(M) leaders, who even questioned the propriety of continuting with the gubernatorial post in the country.